In football, it can be easy to put all of the blame on one singular person. A lot of times fans will voice their displeasure with the coach, but when the offense fails, fans typically go right for the quarterback.
This has largely been the truth for Iowa this year, fans in attendance and on social media quick to criticize quarterback Spencer Petras. His job has been called for since the first half against South Dakota State, and that seat certainly has not cooled down after this 27-14 loss to Michigan.
While the stats were his best all season, 246 passing yards and a touchdown, the offense still struggled to consistently move the ball when it mattered. Some of those yards are a bit empty. Petras once again had some bad misses on film.
Again, it can be easy to start blame with Petras, but today proved to me that his play is not the single root cause for why this offense is so bad. He is just a spoke on the deflated wheel that is Iowa’s offense.
Let’s start up front. Have you ever seen an Iowa offensive line manhandled this badly before? Michigan is always going to be a tough opponent, but there were so little holes to be found in the run game. Runners are met by a wall of backs every time a run play is called. This isn’t just from today either, the inability to get it done up front has been a massive problem for pretty much the entire season so far.
Iowa’s entire identity is tough rushing alongside their great defense. The problem is, there is no toughness on display from this line at all. Most of the time, you’re lucky if they just hold their blocks instead of getting pushed back. This isn’t a team that punches you in the mouth, they’re cowering behind their big brother (the defense) hoping they can get their lunch money back.
The offensive line is the foundation of Iowa’s offensive identity. When you dismantle the Hawkeyes up front, everything crumbles down as we are seeing now.
We’re just seeing major issues compounding upon other offensive problems with the Hawkeyes. The offensive line is struggling in both the run and pass games, and it is pretty much hampering anything the backs are trying to do. There is no run game for Petras to work off of and to get pressure off of his back. Teams are just stacking the box and sending pressure towards the backfield. Add in the receivers not really being the best and it is a horrible environment to try and extract the best out of Petras.
Everything on offense has been a complete failure on all accounts. Nobody has been good enough. However, this complete failure can once again turn into fan backlash at Petras. Every missed throw and missed read is just amplified with Petras right now. Again, he has not been good, but Iowa is also asking way too much from him right now. With everything falling apart, Petras legitimately has to be perfect or those imperfections will stick out badly.
Things need to change badly in this offense if Ferentz wants to save this season, nobody else in the Big Ten West seemingly wanting to take the division either.
Benching Spencer Petras is not the fix all answer though at all, even if it’s the well every frustrated fan wants to go to after this loss. No matter who is under center, the problems plaguing the line, the overall talent on the offense, and the man in charge of it all are still there.
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